UCLA Headlines October 3, 2013

KNBC-Channel 4 reports today that UCLA has been ranked 12th overall — and the No. 2 public university — in the Times Higher Education annual ranking of the world's top 400 universities.

UCLA Gets Major Gift From Pritzker Family

KCRW-89.9 FM and KPCC-89.3 FM reported Wednesday that UCLA has received a $20 million donation from the Pritzker Family Foundation — including $15 million for environmental and sustainability research, $3 million to aid foster youth who are UCLA students, and $2 million to support arts programs for children and families.

Link Between Bad Diet and Cancer

Nature World News reported Tuesday, and HealthDay News and Michigan’s WWJ-950 AM reported Wednesday, on a study led by Dr. Guido Eibl, associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, showing that a high-fat, high-calorie diet led to a significant increase in pancreatic lesions known to be precursors to cancer in mice. Eibl was quoted in the coverage.

Cocaine Users May Be More Vulnerable to HIV

The Huffington Post reports today on a study led by Dr. Dimitrios Vatakis, assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology–oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, that found that cocaine can make human immune cells that are otherwise resistant to HIV infection more susceptible to the virus. Vatakis is quoted.

New Metabolic Pathway for Biofuels

MIT Technology Review reports today, and Chemistry World reported Wednesday, on research led by James Liao, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Chair in Chemical Engineering and chair of the chemical and biomolecular engineering department at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, that resulted in a highly efficient method for breaking down glucose for use in biofuels. Liao was quoted in the coverage.

Immigration Reform in Colorado

An op-ed in today’s Boulder Daily Camera about immigration reform cited a study by Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, associate professor of Chicano studies and director of the North American Integration and Development Center at UCLA, estimating the amount of tax revenue undocumented immigrants would generate for Colorado if they attained legal status.

Childhood Abuse Linked to Adult Health Problems

Iran's FARS News Service reported Wednesday on a study led by Judith Carroll, a postdoctoral scholar at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, showing a correlation between abuse in childhood and severe health problems later in life. Carroll was quoted.

QUOTABLE:

David Codell

Codell, legal director of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, was quoted Tuesday in an Orange County Register article about a notary in Orange County, Calif. who has refused to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Dr. Gregg Fonarow

Fonarow, UCLA's Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science and director of the Ahmanson–UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, is quoted today in a HealthDay News article about the results of a clinical trial testing an experimental drug that lowers LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

Dylan Roby

Roby, director of the health economics and evaluation research program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and an assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, was quoted Wednesday in an Orlando Sentinel article about the opening of two centers in Florida specifically dedicated to women’s health

Dr. Gary Small

Small, the Parlow–Solomon Professor on Aging at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and director of the UCLA Longevity Center, was quoted Tuesday in a Times of India column offering tips on staying mentally and physically healthy.